


five times fitz was a sap

by quibbler



Series: fitzsimmons in the future [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-19
Updated: 2014-06-19
Packaged: 2018-02-05 07:18:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1809970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quibbler/pseuds/quibbler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leo Fitz as a father.</p><p>(Need I say more?)</p>
            </blockquote>





	five times fitz was a sap

**Author's Note:**

> Headcanon time! If Fitzsimmons were to get married, I am of the opinion that they could totally adopt Fitzsimmons as a surname for both of them. That being said, I cannot write that with a straight face and semi-sound mind, so I've left it that Jemma keeps her last name because it 100% does not matter to either of them in the slightest, and that way she doesn't have to fill out a million forms to change her surname.
> 
> I'm also sort of arbitrarily assuming an age when they're married and starting a family despite the fact that I dislike assuming these sorts of things.
> 
> (Don't mind me, just trying to write some fluff to push the finale away from my fragile state of mind.) Please forgive me for anything that appears OOC, as this is more or less wish fufillment that I wrote at work.
> 
> Thank you to the wonderful Océ/theblakesiblings on Tumblr for revising this and catching all of my dumb mistakes, and for giving me a bunch of names with which to work! Dedicated to [Imogen](http://princejojen.tumblr.com/) who gave me the idea.

It was three days, two hours, and twenty-seven minutes before her thirtieth birthday.

Leopold Fitz remembers the moment exactly. He had been in the lab repairing a rather damaged ICER pistol, and Jemma had excused herself with no words, just a light kiss to his temple. (He still can't believe that they're together, let alone married. He still wakes up smiling at the thought.) He lost track of time too easily, so he hadn't even been concerned that she had been gone for some time. (Five minutes? Ten? Perhaps fifteen?) When she finally returned, flushed and waving something in her hand, he hadn't been too concerned.

Until she shouted _I'm pregnant_ at him, that is.

Four months later, he is scrolling down a website, his eyes flitting across the screen so quickly that he thinks it must look like he is short-circuiting, and Jemma is leaning over the holotable, a book in her hands.

"What about Irène?"

He looks up, furrowing his brows in confusion before a smile blooms on his face. "Does that make us Marie and Pierre Curie?" He shakes his head, turning his chair to face her. "Everyone would butcher it. _Irene_ ," he says, drawing out the long e vowel in his American accent and Jemma snorts and rolls her eyes, looking back down at the baby name book. "How about Sarah? After Sarah Boysen, the psychologist--"

"--who worked with monkeys to determine their inclination toward maths. Sarah's a bit boring though, isn't it?" He shrugs, but he can't stop grinning like a daft fool or staring at her in wonder, and two minutes later, Jemma looks up at him, a blush creeping across her cheeks. "What?" Jemma Simmons is an expert at deciphering the expressions and gestures of one Leopold Fitz, but sometimes he knows that one expression blends into another so he stands, crossing the room to press his lips to her forehead.

"We're going to have a little girl," he states, like it's the most obvious thing in the world and really, Jemma, how could you not know that's what caused this goofy look? He slides his hand across her stomach and rests it there against the now noticeable curve of her belly and she smiles, leaning into him.

"You're such a sap," she chides, though he can hear the smile in her tone of voice. "Go on, then, we have a list to make."

\-----

After months of complaining that she can't get close enough to the holotable to make notes, can't go into the lab because of the fetus growing inside her, the day finally comes when she tries to sneak into said lab and her water breaks so close to the door, but Jemma is absolutely positive that she doesn't have to go to the hospital right away.

"I don't want to be in a hospital bed for the next sixteen hours," she answers when everyone is shouting at her, as though it's the simplest explanation in the world, but Fitz protests so much and they argue over each other that two hours later, when her contractions are getting slightly closer together, they're all piled into the van on the way to the emergency room.

The hospital is sterile and feels foreign, but it presses in on him and though he makes a valiant effort to stay by Jemma's side, she demands with serious authority that no men are allowed in the delivery room save for any doctors. In fact, she all but screams that she won't let anyone from the team near her but May, and the older woman stays behind as the rest of the team files out into the waiting room.

He is secretly glad to be out here and not in there because he feels he has had enough intimate acquaintance with hospital rooms for a lifetime and then some, and his nerves are already frayed enough with anxiety as he paces the room.

"Jesus, Fitz, sit down," Skye says, though she looks a bit panicked, too. He shakes his head, unable to speak as he all but forms an indentation in the floor. "Watching you dig yourself an early grave is making _me_ nervous. It's only been an hour and you're going to have jelly for legs before the nurse calls you in."

"I know, but I--I just can't sit still," he admits, and he realises that his arms were starting to cramp up from being crossed over his chest so he drops them, shaking his hands at his sides. "I should be in there, I should be, I should be holding her hand and--"

"--Fitz, if you were in there right now, I would bet a hundred bucks that Simmons would tear your head off. You are so much better off out here."

Three hours later, he is all but collapsed in a chair, his legs shaky, but no one can tell if it's from pacing or because he's bouncing his legs violently. He buries his face in his hands and stays like this for an additional two hours, until Coulson has Skye poke him to make sure he hasn't died from stress. (He hasn't. Yet.) He hasn't even remembered to snack as much as he usually does and he doesn't realise this until his stomach makes the most obnoxious noise possible and Trip is off to the cafeteria to get him something to eat. ("You stay here, Fitz. If you're wolfing down food somewhere else and the nurse comes out here, you'll never hear the end of it.")

When the nurse finally arrives, Fitz is half-asleep in his seat, mouth hanging open. Skye sees the woman approaching first and quickly jabs an elbow into Fitz's side. He jumps approximately 1.5 feet in the air and shoots up onto his feet when the nurse beckons him.

The room is quiet and dark and May is standing next to the bed, filling up a glass of water and she smiles when he comes in. He swallows hard and can't manage to speak just yet, so he just nods in her direction, walking up toward the side of the bed. He glances at the nurses in the corner but his attention is quickly devoted entirely to his wife, lying on the bed with her eyes closed. "Hey," he murmurs, already feeling watery-eyed and it makes his voice waver.

Jemma gives a tired chuckle, opening her eyes to look up at him. "Oh, Fitz," she whispers, and his hand finds hers so he can rub circles against the back of her hand with his thumb. "I'm sorry I threw you out."

He shakes his head, leaning down to brush his lips against her forehead. "Don't be." He opens his mouth to speak but then he hears someone clearing their throat and he turns his head to see one of the nurses standing at the foot of the bed, holding a lump of blankets in her hands. He takes a step back and nearly runs into May, who places a hand against his back as though to steady him because it must be quite obvious that he might faint. Jemma reaches her arms out wordlessly and the nurse places the bundle in her arms, and he hovers, eyes trained on the tiny face just visible outside of her wrappings and he seems to have lost all control of his jaw as he gapes.

"Hello," Jemma murmurs quietly, reaching out a finger to gently run across their daughter's forehead, and Fitz is suddenly overwhelmed at the idea that their daughter is now in the world, part him and part her and he gets choked up just witnessing this. "Hi, little Sophia."

"Wisdom," May says from behind him, and he nods, completely unable to speak. He is glad May understands why they chose the name because he might be rendered speechless for the next hour. Sophia waves a tiny fist in the air before her fingers latch onto her mother's outstretched one, and he leans down to press his cheek to hers. It isn't until he feels wetness on his cheek that he pulls back, not entirely sure if he's the only one crying or if she is crying, too.

Jemma gives a laugh so tinged with exhaustion that he furrows his brows as he wipes at his cheeks with his sleeve. "You beat me to crying first, love," she says, shaking her head as she lifts her arms, Sophia perched carefully on them. "Time to meet daddy," she whispers to the baby, and she turns her head expectantly toward him. "It's your turn."

He nods, reaching out for Sophia and when she's resting in his arms just like all of the books and videos and classes have taught him, he feels the tears really rolling down his cheeks despite the smile that threatens to break his face. "Hi, my darling little girl." He reaches a finger to stroke his daughter's cheek and when Sophia's fingers curl around his, he knows that he's done for.

\-----

"Mummy needs to change, Sophie, so you get to sit with Daddy." Jemma wrings her hands of the soapy water as Fitz takes Sophia by the waist, lifting her high into the air and the baby lets out a peal of delighted laughter, sending water droplets everywhere with a violent wave of her arms. He shuts his eyes just in time and comes out sputtering as he reaches for a towel.

He wraps the towel around his daughter and dries her off against the bathroom counter, leaning down to blow a raspberry against her stomach and Sophia gives another scream of laughter. "You're such a fidgeter, little monkey," he says, adopting his baby voice and Jemma gives a snort of laughter from the bedroom.

"I told you, we're not calling her that!" she calls, but there isn't a hint of malice in her tone.

Fitz seals the diaper and slips the dinosaur onesie over the baby's legs and arms, snapping the buttons together and carrying Sophia against his chest into the bedroom. "Yes, we are," he replies, suppressing laughter as Sophia starts grabbing at his hair and tie and anything else her hands can reach. "Oy, Soph, don't pull too hard or Daddy's going to turn purple," he chides, sitting down on the corner of the bed, setting the baby down on his leg and turning her around so he can hug her to him. Sophia only gurgles in response, clapping her hands together in front of her.

Jemma chuckles as she pulls on an old jumper. Fitz looks up at his wife, all starry-eyed and filled with amazement that this is his life. He is really married to his best friend and they have a beautiful daughter and he's really trying not to cry right now. Jemma shakes her head, moving to sit next to him and placing her hand beneath his chin to press a kiss to his mouth. "My husband is such a ninny," she teases, and he grins, bouncing his leg so Sophia might stop pulling at her mother's clothing.

The baby is babbling and Jemma grins, reaching out her hand to tickle Sophia just beneath her chin. "She talks a lot," she observes, and Fitz raises an eyebrow.

"She takes after both of us, then," he says matter-of-factly and his wife elbows him in the ribs. He's about to yelp in protest when Sophie sits ever so slightly more still than usual and shouts.

"BA _NANA_."

They both freeze and Fitz is blinking rapidly as he looks down at his daughter, and within ten seconds, he is sprawled backwards on the bed, laughing so hard that he can't seem to ever breathe properly again and Jemma has swept Sophia up into her arms. " _Leopold Fitz_ , I cannot even _believe_ our daughter's first word is _banana_. Unfathomable," she admonishes, clucking her tongue at him as he curls up onto his side, slapping the comforter beneath him as he makes a terrible, no-good effort at recovering.

When he finally stops laughing three full minutes later, wiping tears from his eyes and hiccuping slightly, he has a shit-eating grin on his face, he's sure of it, and Jemma is rolling her eyes so much that it looks like it must hurt. "She's definitely our little monkey," he wheezes, coughing whilst trying to draw a deep enough breath to satisfy his brain's dire need of oxygen. "Aren't you, Sophie? And what do monkeys eat?"

" _Banana_."

It takes him a full half hour to recover after that.

\-----

They have TED talks playing the entire drive to the science museum, mainly because every time they have the radio on, the two of them tend to sing very loudly and rather poorly and Sophie has already cried several times over the past few years because of it. Instead, Jemma and Fitz keep up a rather steady stream of conversation, and Sophie interjects often with statements of fact and loads of questions. Jemma is turned around in the front seat, explaining how evolution came to be when Fitz pulls up into the car park. "We're here," he declares, and Jemma wheels around, looking confused until she realises that she has talked for the past ten minutes and didn't even notice the exit, but Sophie doesn't seem to mind.

"So chimp--chimp-in-zees didn't just turn into people?" she asks, and Fitz looks at her through his mirror, beaming.

"No more discussion of that right now, monkey. We have to go inside and then you can see all of the fun exhibits." Jemma wrinkles her nose at his use of the nickname but it sticks, all the more bolstered when Sophia insists on climbing onto Fitz's shoulders as soon as they reach the exhibit about mummification. Fitz manages not to gag behind his wife's back as she explains the process to Sophia, who, to her immense credit, only appears to be interested, not disgusted like her father.

Two full hours pass before they reach the second floor where the electronics and machines are, and Fitz suddenly feels a bit like a child again, but he shakes his head and tilts his chin up to address the little girl holding onto his hair. "Soph, do you want to see these up close?"

"Yes!" she exclaims, and Fitz drops down so she can climb off of his shoulders. Jemma is holding out her mobile and quickly snaps a picture, which startles him slightly as he looks up at her.

"Sending it to Skye," she murmurs vaguely as an answer to his nonverbal question with a wave of her hand, and he makes a face.

Sophie jumps up and down. "Auntie Skye? Tell her I say hi. She owes me ice cream!"

Fitz frowns, picking his little girl up by the waist and bringing her up to the glass so she can see the robots. "Only if Mummy is there with you. You and Auntie Skye alone with ice cream sounds like a very bad idea." She is about to protest when he points at the glass. "Look, do you see how that robot can lift the blocks even though they're very heavy? Do you remember how to calculate force?"

She thinks for a moment, face scrunched up in concentration as her little hands ball up against the glass. "Mass times ack-sell-uh-ray-shun!" Her face lights up as she remembers the answer though she struggles through _acceleration_ , and Fitz beams, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"That's exactly right, monkey."

Jemma moves to stand beside him, her hand resting against his elbow as she leans in to kiss his jaw. "She's already brilliant," she murmurs, leaning her head against his shoulder.

He laughs, turning to press a kiss to his wife's hair. "With us as parents, it was inevitable."

He nearly shoves three people to his immediate right out of the way when he jumps away to avoid a slap.

\-----

"Mummy, do I need to bring a lunch?" Sophie asks, kneeling on a chair at the table, hands folded in front of her. Fitz is leaning against the frame to enter the kitchen and he winks at his daughter when she spots him.

Jemma smiles, tugging gently on one of Sophie's curls. "No, sweetheart, we'll be picking you up before then. But tomorrow, we'll pack you something yummy, okay?" Sophie nods solemnly and a knot clenches in Fitz's stomach as he watches her rummage through her backpack. He remembers years of not fitting in and being teased for knowing too much, for being the smallest one in every year, and he doesn't know if he can bear watching his darling little girl go through what he did, but then he remembers that he and Jemma are far more well-equipped to handle that. There are too many people in Sophie's life that will refuse to see her in that sort of position.

The car ride is brief and all too soon, they're in front of a building with children streaming inside and Fitz is kneeling on the ground in front of his brilliant daughter. "Remember, be nice to everyone, but if they're mean to you--"

"--I can tell them about Grampa Coulson, right?" Fitz frowns as Jemma starts to laugh behind him, though he can already hear her turning away so she isn't being a bad influence.

He reaches for Sophie's hands. "Only what we practised," he replies with another wink before holding out his arms. "Now, give Daddy a hug and a kiss goodbye."

When Sophie is skipping up the steps after saying goodbye to the pair of them, Fitz feels choked up again and he looks up, remembering something about looking up to prevent tears. Jemma wraps her arms around his waist and he looks back down to find that she beat him to crying this time. "Coulson's going to love that," he jokes through a nose that is turning stuffy too quickly, and he's about to speak again when his mobile starts buzzing wildly in his pocket.

"Hello?" he answers, trying not to sniffle too loudly.

"Are you _crying_ right now?" The disbelief in Skye's voice is palpable and he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose between fingers. He really should have checked the caller ID first.

"I'm giving the phone to Jemma," he replies before Skye can say a word, and Jemma takes the mobile from him.

"Skye?" she asks, and all he hears from the other end is _YOUR HUSBAND, LEOPOLD FITZ, IS THE SAPPIEST SAP TO EVER SAP_.

**Author's Note:**

> Their daughter's full name is Sophia Blackburn Fitzsimmons. (I didn't say that their daughter had to have just one surname, did I?) Blackburn is her middle name after Elizabeth Blackburn, a biochemistry and biophysics professor at UCalifornia-San Francisco who discovered telomerase, an enzyme that maintains telomeres, which cap off chromosomes so they don't shorten after mitosis. Her research was especially important in cancer studies, as she showed that the enzyme, the production of which ceases over time in healthy cells causing them to die, does not shut off in cancer cells. Yes, that is nerdy, and yes, I am proud of it. I did almost pick Elizabeth, but it sounded too generic.
> 
> Yes, I had to include many mentions of monkeys. However, originally her first word was going to be something more scientific, but banana happens to include many easy syllables for babies, so I had to do it. I also really wanted to include this but the scene ended better the way it's written: after Sophie's first word, Fitz keeps laughing sporadically about it all the way into dinner and it isn't until May flings baby food into his face that he finally stops.
> 
> Her name is Sophia, but they call her Sophie, Soph, and monkey with varying degrees of favouritism.
> 
> I already wrote SO MUCH for this, but I didn't include anything about May remembering every word Jemma says about Fitz whilst in labour. All of it is likely hilarious and probably oversharing and May occasionally tells Fitzsimmons these things at random. Fitz gets indignant and Jemma turns crimson and pretends to be busy with something. If enough of you want to read it, I will totally write it.
> 
> Finally, someone should teach me how to title things. I'm _awful_ at it.


End file.
